Hart Trophy candidate Draisaitl first to surpass 50 goals this season
Published
Leon Draisaitl scored twice in his return to the Edmonton Oilers lineup on Saturday, becoming the first player to surpass 50 goals this season.
Draisaitl, who missed the previous four games with an undisclosed injury, netted the overtime winner for the Oilers in a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.
This is Draisaitl's fourth season with at least 50 goals, putting him in a tie with Jari Kurri for second most in Oilers history behind Wayne Gretzky (eight).
He also becomes one of only two active players to have four-or-more 50-plus goal seasons, joining Alex Ovechkin (nine).
Draisaitl has identified himself as a pass-first forward since the Oilers selected him third overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, but he's developed into a prolific goal scorer over his 11 seasons in Edmonton.
“I work on [my shot] daily," Draisaitl said after Saturday's game. "I put myself in different situations in practice and sometimes it’s instinctual a little bit. Just constantly trying to improve it.”
“There’s not many pass-first 50-goal scorers,” defenceman Darnell Nurse said on Saturday. “He’s one of them. I think obviously his vision for the game, the way he sees the game is second-to-none. When you’re passing and see the game as he does, to find that open space and get the opportunities he does to get the shot off, he’s worked on scoring goals from tough areas too, it’s night in and night out. It’s things for our group that is really special.”
Zach Hyman, a 54-goal scorer a year ago, is in admiration of his teammate.
“This year it feels like he's scored every game, he's been that consistent and that good for us,” Hyman said. “I don't even think he has a hat trick this year and I think that speaks with how consistent and how good he's been every single game to be able to do that without many multi-goal games.”
Hyman isn't that far off: Draisaitl has scored a goal in 41 of 69 games played this season, and has yet to find his first hat trick of the campaign. Saturday's win marked his 10th multi-goal game of the year.
Edmonton's victory over the Flames snapped a short two-game losing streak and helped solidify their position in the Western Conference playoff picture, moving Edmonton eight points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks for the third playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
Draisaitl and captain Connor McDavid helped guide the Oilers to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season, and Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch is expecting more of the same from his star forward this year.
“I’ve only been with him for a year and a bit, and I’ve seen him in playoffs and I’ve watched him play pretty banged up several times,” Knoblauch said.
“I’ve heard in the past, in other series where he had that ankle sprain, and he played on that. It’s difficult to play well and score in the regular season, it’s even harder to do it in the playoff and it’s almost impossible to do it in the playoffs when you’re hurt and somehow he finds a way to do it.”
Draisaitl has 398 goals and 954 points in 788 career NHL games, all with the Oilers. He won the Hart Trophy following the 2019-20 campaign, and is among the favourites to take home the award again this season.